Land Rover- Not just a vehicle, an Institution.

The last pic is of the Land Rover specially equipped for the film Tomb Raider.  

Land Rover is not just a vehicle, it is an institution. Conceived as nothing more than a short-term stop-gap, it went on to break records worldwide and to become the definitive 4WD brand.  Production of the model now known as the Defender began in 1983 as the Land Rover One Ten, a simple name which reflected the 110 inch (2.794 m) length of the wheelbase. The Land Rover Ninety, with 93 inch (2.362 m) wheelbase, and Land Rover 127, with 127 in (3.226 m) wheelbase, soon followed.  Outwardly, there is little to distinguish the post-1983 vehicles from the Series III Land Rover. A full-length bonnet, revised grille, plus the fitting of wheel arch extensions to cover wider-track axles are the most noticeable changes.  Mechanically the Ninety and One Ten were a complete modernisation of the former Series platform.  

Land Rover Defender vehicles have been used extensively by many of the world’s militaries, including the US in some limited capacity, following experience with the vehicle during the first Gulf War, where US forces found the British Army’s vehicles to be more capable and better suited to operation in urban areas and for air-lifting than the Humvee. The British Army has used Land Rovers since the 1950s, as have many countries in the Commonwealth of Nations.  

The Defender is still largely hand assembled, and unlike most modern cars and trucks, all the major body panels and sub-assemblies simply bolt together. A Defender can literally be broken down to its chassis with simple hand tools — there is no unibody structure.  At present, the Defender does not reach the safety requirement for the USA, and only small batches of specially modified (and very expensive) vehicles have been sold there in the past.   

Link to Land Rover History

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